In the Presence of Mystery

Reflections is a place for people who have already made a commitment to their spiritual path. We provide mentoring, training and community. What you get out of it is pretty much up to you. I often refer to it as the equivalent of a graduate school.

I even successfully hid a description of the school, the tradition and our work on our web site under the menu heading About. I do get that for some people, reading the web site can be problematic. And I also get that many folks want more information than what is offered. But it seems to me that what folks really want to know is if Reflections is right for them.

And I cannot answer that question, that is a question that only you can answer for yourself.

And so instead I will address Del's question, " I'd love to see more detailed explanation on what your official definition of a 'mystery school' is, and how it applies in a world where the Secrets of the Occult are becoming more and more accessible to the everyman."

Well, that is the problem in a nut shell, Del. We are all swimming in information and at the same time, the quality of the available information has deteriorated.

heirophantFirst off a secret is not a mystery. Mystery is all around us, waiting, watching and staring us right in the face. We turn away from mystery every time we go searching for THE answer or THE solution or THE secret key formerly held secret by the secret society of secret keepers. Mystery can not be taught or read about -- mystery can only be revealed in the now, in the present moment.

... circling around a large stone that blocks my path and just as suddenly, the entire mountain is revealed in its glory. ..

That moment, that precious now means absolutely nothing unless you were there to experience it. I can describe it to you, i can share my reactions and insights ... but until you take that path or something like it ... it is just as if it never happened for you.

Mystery is ever present, it is ever accessible and it is your birth right.

My job as a shaman, mystic and priestess is to take you to places ... if you are willing, able and ready ... where you can encounter mystery. All the rest is up to you.

magicianAnd how do I do that? I lead you to the liminal places, the 'tween places and I show you .... yourself. I hold up a mirror, probably for most of us the clearest mirror you have ever seen and I say ... Who is this?

I walk you right up to the edge of your comfort ... and despite what my students claim ... I neither push or nudge you over the cliff ... I stand with you as you face your darkness, your edges and your feeble first steps toward flight ... and I catch you midflight if you fall... depositing you back on level ground so you can try again.

Reflections is in short a formal apprenticeship with someone who is humble enough to appreciate the gift of a Student's trust, and strong enough to take on the mantle of Teacher.

What I offer is my humanity, in all its gloriousness and all its limitations.

You are the one who decides whether it is enough, whether it is what you need, or whether it is right for you.

And for me at this very moment... that is what a mystery school is all about.

I can't resist observing that before Alan Moore became a magickian, he had Cain and Abel (!) explain in the pages of the Swamp Thing comic that a secret is knowledge that you keep to yourself --- which ceases to be a secret when you share it --- while a mystery is a glimpse of the unknown to be shared and pondered. Abel has dominion over secrets, Cain over mysteries ... which is itself a mystery to share and ponder.

Neil Gaiman, who will remind you that he is not not not a magickian, referenced this several times in the pages of The Sandman, where he has Cain tell us, "It is the mystery that endures, not the explanation."